Maier Makes Alpine History

Hermann Maier ruled the slopes again Sunday, making alpine skiing history by winning a World Cup super giant slalom at Lake Louise, Canada.

Maier won the 11th super-G of his career, including two this season. He passed the mark of 10 super-G wins by Switzerland’s Pirmin Zurbriggen, set between 1983 and 1989. The Austrian star, who turns 27 on Tuesday, raced down the 46-gate course in 1 minute, 30.21 seconds.

Frederik Nyberg of Sweden was second in 1:31.16 and Josef Strobl of Austria was third in 1:31.34. Austrian skiers claimed seven of the top 10 spots.

Besides his super-G wins, Maier has two giant slalom and a downhill victory this season, giving him 23 wins in all events.

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Janica Kostelic of Croatia finished with a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 23.34 seconds to win a women’s World Cup slalom event at Serre Chavalier, France.

Kostelic left a massive 1.78 second gap between her and her closest challenger, Norway’s Trine Bakke, who was second in 1:25.12. Bakke finished ahead of reigning World Cup slalom champion Sabine Egger of Austria, who was third in 1:25.73.

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Andreas Widhoelzl of Austria set a hill record for the second day in a row at Predazzo, Italy, winning a ski jumping World Cup event and moving into second place in the season standings. Widhoelzl jumped 131 meters on his first attempt on the K-120 hill, breaking his own mark of 127.5 set during a victory Saturday. He totaled 242.3 points from his two jumps, defeating Finland’s Jani Soininen by three points.

Golf

Ernie Els, who had the home-course advantage, won the Million Dollar Challenge for the first time with a five-stroke victory over Colin Montgomerie of Scotland. Els closed with a six-under-par 66 to finish at 25-under 263 at Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, South Africa. He entered the final round with a six-stroke lead. . . . Laura Davies made a birdie putt on the third playoff hole as she and John Daly came back from a five-shot deficit to defeat Se Ri Pak and Paul Azinger and win the $2-million JCPenney Classic at Palm Harbor, Fla.

Tennis

John McEnroe won the Honda Challenge seniors event for the third consecutive year when Henri Leconte quit in the second set because of a back injury.

McEnroe was leading, 6-2, 4-1, when the Frenchman walked off the court, holding his back, at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The victory gave McEnroe the lead in the season standings with Leconte slipping to second.

Baseball

David Cone will return to the New York Yankees next season, after agreeing to a one-year deal for approximately $12 million with the World Series champions, a source close to the negotiations told the Associated Press.

Cone, who was seeking a two-year contract, agreed to the deal--pending a physical--before a deadline Tuesday. The Yankees had no comment and calls to Cone’s agent were not immediately returned.

Miscellany

Canada defeated the U.S. in a shootout to win its second consecutive Three Nations Cup women’s hockey tournament at Montreal.

AmericaOne handed Prada its second loss in 24 races in the America’s Cup challenger series, beating the Italian front-runner by 23 seconds at Auckland, New Zealand.

The victory, worth nine points, moved the San Francisco team within one point of the Italians in the 11-syndicate competition. The winner will face New Zealand next year for sailing’s top trophy.

Columbia College won its second consecutive NAIA women’s volleyball championship by defeating Fresno Pacific, 8-15, 16-14, 15-12, 15-7, at Fresno. Dominique Savage led the Cougars with 18 kills and four blocks.